December 20, 2012

ASCB 2012: In Development

Just time for a quick roundup of the final day at the ASCB
annual meeting, when I went to the minisymposium on Development and
Morphogenesis.

Each of the six talks explored a different developmental
process, ranging from complex morphogenetic movements of embryonic zebrafish
tissues to unique cell signaling events in Drosophila.

Session co-chair Carl-Philipp Heisenberg gave a very nice
talk on the mechanics of zebrafish epiboly, the process in which a squamous
epithelial layer called the enveloping cell layer spreads out from the animal
pole of the embryo to cover the inner yolk cell at the end of gastrulation. In
a meeting that was full of mechanically-focused cell biology talks, Heisenberg's presentation was definitely one of the most accessible. Look out for an
interview with Heisenberg in an upcoming issue of JCB.

Daryl David, from Tony Harris’ lab, gave an update to his
previous work on how epithelial aminoserosa cells in Drosophila embryos undergo apical constriction. And Ichiro Nishii
presented a fascinating discussion of a model organism I’d never heard of
before – a multicellular algae called Volvox that, during embryogenesis, turns
itself inside out so that its reproductive cells are enclosed in the interior
of the adult organism.

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